Double IUI

Thanksgiving morning was spent at my RE's office getting an ultrasound and then we were sent over to the hospital for an E2 draw. He said it looked like I had 4 follicles that would be ready soon. He told us he would either call us that night or Friday morning to let us know what the next steps were. He asked us if we had a trigger shot at home and we told him yes.

So Thanksgiving came and went with no call. I didn't think to ask him if I still needed to stay on my 150IU of Follistim so I just took it. I figured if he wanted me to stop he would've said something. So he calls Friday around 12:00 to let me know we will be doing the IUI in the morning. I said, "But what about triggering?" He said, "Didn't you trigger last night?" and I told him no. He said he told me to trigger if I didn't hear from him last night. I never heard him say that and neither did Brad. So now I'm freaking out thinking I have screwed up this entire thing. The NK cells are low, the cytokines are low, I responded well but not too much to the Follistim and now this? UGH! So I told him I took more Follistim and he said that wouldn't really matter. Thank goodness! He said we could still do the IUI in the morning if I go trigger right after we get off the phone. I did. I also peed on a OPK to make sure I hadn't ovulated on my own yet and I hadn't. Disaster averted hopefully!

I contacted my consultant to let her know what happened and to get her opinion on my mistake. She said it might be a good idea to do a double IUI and Brad and I agreed with her. We had the first IUI at 7am Saturday morning. He did an ultrasound to make sure I didn't ovulate on my own yet and I hadn't. This time he said he saw 5 instead of 4 and that made me feel better for our chances. We asked him if we could do a double and he agreed that would be fine. He said it wouldn't up our chances a ton but it could help. I told him since I responded so well this time we would like the best chance possible, even if it only helps a few percentages.

We went back this morning, Sunday, for the second one. I was having lots of cramping before the procedure on my left side along with some CM so I was pretty sure it was happening! I had 4 out of the 5 follies on the left. I pointed to the spot that was cramping and he said that's about the right spot! Come on follies!!! I need all 5 to release in hopes that at least one or two are good eggs. At my age you just never know. ;)

So now we wait. Fortunately I will know ahead of time because I always do. I am going to start testing out the trigger in a few days so I'll let you know what's going on this time hopefully. I was just so disappointed in my response to Clomid last time that I didn't keep anyone in the loop. This time I am cautiously hopeful.

No infusion needed!

I have been stressing out about not receiving my immune numbers yet but the AEB Center called me back this morning and told me that my numbers looked excellent! She didn't say what they were and said the doctor hadn't actually reviewed them yet but told me I definitely won't need a pre-conception infusion this time. And it's a good thing I don't need one because I am almost ready to trigger (possibly tonight) and I couldn't get an appointment at Coram for the infusion until Tuesday. God is so good! I have just been thanking Him and praising Him all day for saving us lots of money and possibly from another miscarriage should I get pregnant. Now I am asking Him to please let this be our cycle for our take-home baby(ies). Our follicles look good (possibly 4 mature in all), my NK cells and cytokines are low, I'm on Lovenox for my clotting disorders and APAs so it just has to work, right? I am asking you to pray this same prayer with me. Thanks girls!!!You all are always in my prayers as well.

I spoke too soon!

And the drama returns! I got blood work done yesterday for my Nk cells and cytokines. The lab in CA called today and told me the tubes were labeled with the wrong name so they couldn't run the tests on them. I don't even know how this could've happened??? The girl drew my blood, asked me what needed to be written on them, I watched her write it all on them, then she handed them to me. I never imagined she didn't know my name. Oops!

Soooo long story short after several phones calls to the place where they drew my blood and the lab (all while trying to teach Pre-K students), we got it all worked out. The girl had to fax a paper stating that it was indeed my blood which she is sure of since she drew 50cc out of me. The bad news is now this puts me behind and I may not be able to get my results before Thanksgiving. They said to call them tomorrow to see if they have them done. Please pray that I get them back tomorrow and they say my immune system is still suppressed! I'm not sure if I will have time to schedule an infusion before the IUI which could be very soon.

On a good note, I think I responded pretty well to the Follistim. Here are my follicles:
R-10x16
R-13x7
L-15x12
L-13x15
L-16x15
L-11x12
L-9x11

So the nurse who was measuring said I should have 5 hopefully. I am staying on 150 and then having a repeat ultrasound on Thanksgiving Day. Should this work out, I certainly will be the most thankful mommy ever.

Back on the Saddle!

It's CD7 and I've been stimming for 5 days now. I had a clearing ultrasound and E2 draw on CD3 so they started me at 150IU of Follistim. I went back yesterday (on a Sunday) for another E2 draw and that was easier said than done.

The RE's office was supposed to fax my orders over to the hospital on Friday but when I got to registration, they had no order. There was another couple next to me that is going to the same RE that had no orders either. The ladies checked everywhere at registration and then sent someone over to the regular registration desk which is closed on Sunday. Nothing. I didn't know what to do because I had to get it drawn so they could see whether or not to adjust my medication. I decided to call the on-call physician. It was an RE that I went to years ago and left. Yeah. That'll be great.

I call him and he agrees to call the hospital with the orders. (Maybe he didn't remember me or maybe he was just being nice!) So I wait for a while and nothing. I decide to call him back because the lady at registration said they can't accept called-in orders on the weekends, only faxed orders. He wasn't happy about this and demanded to speak to her supervisor. Ouch! Apparently he was at church and did not want to leave to get to a fax machine. Can't blame the guy there.

The head RN called him back and got it all worked out. He said he could take a phone order while the registration girls could not. He hangs up with the RE and then asks me what the diagnosis code is. Huh? I don't know. That's why there are orders. They wrote the same order for the girl that was next to me and we all head to the lab.

We get there and they ask our names. Guess what they have? OUR ORDERS from our own RE! What? I guess no one thought to check the actual lab. Our office did fax them over. I was a little upset but now we can go back to the registration desk to get the correct diagnosis code.

So 2 and 1/2 hours later, my blood was drawn. The funny thing is the RE's office called me about 30 minutes later to say it was 211 and that was good so stay on 150. I got my immune stuff (NK and cytokines) drawn today to see if I'll need another IVIG or not and I go back to the RE tomorrow for another E2 and my first ultrasound on Follistim. Let's hope the rest of this cycle is stress free. So glad tomorrow isn't SUNDAY!!!

One step closer

I didn't post about our second LIT trip to Mexico because it was basically the same as before. Everything except for we didn't eat at the Mexican restaurant because it's gross and we received a triple dose instead of just the double. Our friends went back with us that were there the first time and I received a singe dose of her husband while she had a single dose of Brad! There was also one other couple there for their 3rd round. Ugh! We were really hoping we didn't need a third trip.

Luckily it has been long enough after the second round to get my blood drawn and the results are back! My LAD went from 5.2 to 73.7!!!!! The AEB Center likes for this number to be 50 so I did great on this one. This is what the Mexico trip was for so it definitely worked. So glad we went and did the triple dose that second round.

My t-reg was also good at 2.3. They like to see 0.7 or greater on this one so I 'm good there too. As of right now, we don't need any more LIT treatments for now. Yay!

Now for the bad news. LIT doesn't usually work for your elevated NK cells or cytokines so those are still too high. It brought them down a little bit but they are still too high so the fix is either IVIG or Humira. I have emailed our consultant, Karen Pace, with Conceivable Solutions to get her opinion on the two choices. IVIG is of course the clear choice if it were free but it's outrageously expensive so we would rather not do that unless we have to. Not only is it expensive but you must be hooked up to an IV for 4 to 5 hours for each infusion. It would be way easier to just take shots of Humira but we don't know if that is enough to combat my baby killing body! I have an online friend whose NK and cytokine levels are comparable to mine and she just took Predinosone prior to pregnancy and throughout the entire pregnancy. She now has a healthy son who is 8 weeks old.

So now we have to decide which path to take. According to my cycle app on my phone, we have around 25 days to figure out what we are doing. IVIG expensive infusions, Humira to suppress my immune system or Prednisone to combat the inflammation. We're getting closer to our baby!!!!!